Soeurs Noires
by MarieKavanagh
Summary: Taking a deep, steady breath, Andromeda raised her eyes to meet Narcissa's once more. "I'm sorry, sister" she said solemnly. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you from our family" As Narcissa raised her sister's hand, still clasped within her own, and brought it to her mouth, planting a soft kiss on top of it. "I'm sorry I couldn't save your family from our sister"


The late evening breeze whistled through the surrounding wheat fields which stretched out to mingle with the pink-and-purple horizon, speckled with the dim glow of the newly emerging stars, the constellations out to play again for another night. Narcissa Malfoy pulled her velvet travelling cloak a little tightly around her shoulders against the chilly early autumn breeze. The gravel pathway crunched beneath her walking boots as she strode along the country lane, which was mercifully devoid of fellow travellers.

Narcissa hadn't previously been much one for walking. As a pureblood witch of the Houses of Black and Malfoy, this very Muggle mode of transport had never been much of a respectable option, nor a desire, for that matter. But in recent months it was once that Narcissa had begun to appreciate more. It was remarkable how many of the troubles of one's mind could be untangled and sorted into order during a leisurely, and sometimes lengthy stroll around the lands surrounding Malfoy Manor.

But these were not the landscaped gardens, nor the tumbling meadows of the Manor. These were foreign fields on home soil. Unfamiliar winding country paths, sandwiched between Muggle farmers' fields. Nerves fluttered through Narcissa's stomach as she walked towards the cottage at the end of the lane, a lone fortress of life amongst the surrounding sea of wheat swirling in the breeze. A single, warm orange glow shone from one window, a light billow of smoke protruding from the slightly crooked chimney. A cosy scene of domesticity, all the storybook suggestions of a happy family home. A low wooden gate with no lock halfheartedly guarded the front garden from the outside world. It gave Narcissa leave to enter at the slightest push. So very different from the tall, impeding, wrought iron gates that protected Malfoy Manor from the threats of the outside world.

The knot of anxiety that had been forming within Narcissa gave a final tug within her as she hesitated before knocking lightly on the front door of the cottage. The moment that followed seemed to last an eternity. Perhaps she wouldn't answer, had had a change of heart, regretted sending the owl that had delivered a shy, somewhat hesitant letter suggesting the meeting that was about to take place. But then, finally, soft footsteps on the other side of the thin cottage walls, a lock turning, and the door swung open.

Narcissa couldn't help but gasp slightly at the sight of the woman who opened the door to face her. It was like seeing a ghost. Her sister's features, the well-defined, chiselled face, the unconsciously aristocratic way she carried her head highly, with purpose. Her sister had always possessed the desired traits of a well-bred daughter of pure blood. Before they were besmirched by her darkness, paranoia and fanaticism of the Dark Lord's cause.

But for all Andromeda Tonks, nee Black, had been constantly remarked upon over the years as so closely resembling her elder sister Bellatrix, in a way that made even Narcissa startle for a moment upon seeing her, the middle sister of the Black family now possessed a face had been as softened by the world in which they lived as Bellatrix's had been hardened. Her cautiously inquisitive gaze, her studious brown eyes parallel to Bellatrix's accusing, beady-eyed stare.

"Andromeda"

"Narcissa"

Their words were spoken mutually lukewarm, as though neither sister dared to be the first to suggest that this meeting could resemble a joyous post-war reunion, such as those which were occurring daily up and down the country in these turbulent early months of peace. Their eyes held each other's gaze for a moment, each searching the other pair for some disguised feeling, a hidden thought.

"Come in" Andromeda beckoned her sister into the cottage with a polite yet restrained smile. She tucked a stray lock of her tumbling chestnut tresses, flecked with the merest hint of grey, behind her ear awkwardly, averting her eyes downward, away from Narcissa.

Narcissa nodded a silent thank you as she stepped through the door into the strange world her sister inhabited, so far removed from the one in which they had been raised.  
"Go through to the front room" Andromeda gestured to the far end of the cottage, trying not to notice the way her sister's eyes flickered uncertainly from the bare wooden beams of the ceiling to the worn rug in front of the flickering fireplace that had seen far better days. "I'll bring some tea"

Narcissa did as her sister bid, lifting the hem of her silver-embroidered robes slightly above the bare floorboards, stepping softly to avoid the echoing loud clip-clop of her expensively-heeled shoes.

Andromeda smoothed the rumpled skirt of her Muggle dress as she turned away from her sister towards the kitchen, her threadbare slippers carrying her softly on her way.  
Narcissa supposed that some would describe her sister's sitting room as "cosy", with two fading, orange sofas facing each other from opposite walls, each draped in a colourful knitted throw to disguise their age. The wooden coffee table sandwiched between them bore it's scars proudly, unfiltered; dents from accidental knocks and bumps, a ring mark from a mug placed carelessly without a coaster, a black stain from an inkwell knocked sideways. Each one a lasting memory of a bustling family life of which only the scars now remained.

Narcissa struggled to think of an item of furniture at home that held any such stories. Perhaps she simply owned too many coffee tables for any valuable memories to spring to mind when she thought of them. Besides, a dent or stain would never have been tolerated.

Her gaze drifted to the sideboard beneath the window. It was crammed with miss-matched photo frames. Each housed a photograph, some flickering with movement as normal, and some eerily still, Muggle-style. Her sister's husband had always held a certain fondness for aspects of his unfortunate heritage.

Unable to resist, Narcissa drifted over to examine the photographs.

Andromeda's wedding - captured in the stillness of a Muggle lens. The bride wearing a simple white dress, the groom wearing a proud smile befitting of a man newly wed to a beautiful pureblood witch of such standing. Narcissa vaguely remembered his name from school. Ted, wasn't it? By their side stood a single set of beaming parents, clearly unphased by the lack of attendants from their new daughter-in-law's family. Were these proud Muggles even aware of the scandalous rumours flitting about the drawing rooms of the pureblood families of England at that same moment surrounding this happy little ceremony?

Narcissa remembered how it long it had taken for the photographer to arrange the dozens of guests for her wedding portrait - a sea of heavy black dress robes and haughty poses, the guests all far too dignified to smile. She remembered the moment she had stolen to glance sideways at the triumphant smirk on her new husband's face, proud of his prize. Narcissa remembered her own feelings of triumph; the greatest a pureblood witch could wish to achieve, or so she'd been taught - a pure, advantageous match, with a hint genuine affection to boot. What more could she want?

By contrast to the stillness of the previous one, the next photograph was alive with movement. Andromeda, smiling widely through her obvious exhaustion, sat in an armchair (could it be the same worn-out old piece currently staring at Narcissa from the corner of the room?), giving out a laugh as she pried a lock of her tangled chestnut hair out of the hand of the wriggling baby in her arms. Her husband, looking as proud as he had on his wedding day, had his arm draped around his wife's shoulders from where he sat on the arm of the chair. Neither parent seemed particularly concerned that their child's hair was in the process of turning from pitch-black to bright green.

Narcissa had a photo by her bedside in a silver frame. A miniature copy of the formal portrait that hung in the main drawing room of the Manor. In the photo she sat up straight as a pin, fighting her post-childbirth urge to slouch, carefully holding up her newborn son into view. At her side stood her husband, angled slightly towards her, his hands placed firmly upon the gleaming serpent hilt of his cane. Behind them, the Malfoy coat of arms tapestry hung large and heavy, filling the frame, enveloping them all.

It was evident that Andromeda's daughter was not disappointed that her Black blood did not run strong enough to win her a coveted place in Slytherin house, for the photograph commemorating her Hogwarts graduation featured the seventeen year old proudly sporting shoulder-length hair of bright yellow with jet black tips, matching her Hufflepuff robes. She grinned with glee as her mother smoothed the rumpled sleeves of her school robes fondly from where her beaming father had creased them by wrapping his arm tight around his daughter's shoulders for the photograph.

Narcissa would never have such a photograph with her son. The thought often made her sad. But there had been more pressing matters than Draco's schooling at hand.

The first thing Narcissa noticed about the next photograph was the shockingly bright turquoise hair of the newborn held by the young woman sat on the now-familiar sofa draped in the homemade throw. Her hair was now bright bubblegum pink. Her tired-but-happy smile was almost identical to the one that her mother had worn twenty-four years previously. She leaned against the rather shabby-looking man sat beside her, his arm draped around her shoulders protectively, his tired smile directed proudly down at his son. Narcissa recognised the werewolf her niece had married. How Bellatrix had laughed in outraged shame at the news at their niece's further contamination of their proud bloodline.

"You wouldn't have believed his hair was jet black when he was born"

Narcissa quickly snapped back her hand away from where it had reached forward to cup the photo frame, a movement she hadn't realised she was doing. She turned to see here sister stood beside her, smiling fondly down at the photograph, a tea tray levitating beside her.

"A little of his Black heritage coming through, perhaps" Narcissa commented with a little smile. "He's beautiful" she added quickly, lest her suggestion risk being taken the wrong way. How soon was too soon to bring up her estranged family with one's runaway sister?

To her relief, Andromeda smiled, a touch of sadness evident in her careworn brown eyes.

"He's as much trouble as his mother was at his age" said Andromeda fondly with a small chuckle.

Narcissa bit her lip.

"I'm sorry I didn't know her" she said quietly, cautiously. "I'm sure she-"

"Did you see her?"

The urgency in Andromeda's blurted out question had her sister taken aback, the change so sudden from her previously calm tone.

"I- I'm sorry?"

"At the Battle. At Hogwarts. Did you see her?" there was an urgency to Andromeda's words that spoke of held-back emotions, of long-bottled-up desperation trying to overflow at last. Narcissa couldn't remember ever having seen her strong, opinionated elder sister appear so vulnerable.

"No" Narcissa replied, genuinely sorry to not be able to offer her sister some relief. "No, I didn't. I'm sorry. I wasn't there for the first half of the Battle. I was... I was in the forest, with-"

"Yes, yes of course..." Andromeda's voice trailed off with a shake of her head, the emotion in her words fading to an absent-minded thoughtfulness as her gaze drifted back to the snapshots of her family. "Of course you were, I remember. Harry told me"

Narcissa felt her stomach tie a little knot in itself at the memory of that night in the forest. How much had Harry Potter told her about the events of that night?

"It was a very brave thing you did, Narcissa" Andromeda's words took Narcissa by surprise. She had thought her sister wouldn't wish to discuss the events of the night her daughter had died, let alone acknowledge the side in which the sister she had opened her home to had fought on.

Narcissa stared at her sister, unsure of what to say.

"Harry told me what you did that night. How you lied to... To him"

Narcissa's eyes flickered to and from her sister's gaze awkwardly. She hadn't confronted her own reasoning behind her actions that night to herself, let alone anyone else. She could scarcely remember her reasoning behind anything she did that night. The only thing she could remember was the obsessive, excruciating ache she had felt for news of her son. To know he was safe.

"Yes, well" she said awkwardly, fiddling with a thread on the cuff of her robes that had come loose, threatening to unravel completely if tugged too hard. "A little bravery is better late than never, I suppose"

Andromeda smiled softly. Narcissa recognised the knowing look in her eyes. It was the look she had seen countless times during their childhood. The knowing look of an elder sibling proved right. But whereas Bellatrix would sneer with glee at the chance to say "I told you so", Andromeda would merely smile approvingly with sisterly pride.

Andromeda would never sneer at her for miscalculating her sums during the tutoring sessions of their early childhood. She would talk her through her mistakes, and smile proudly when she eventually succeeded.

Narcissa remembered how Bella had snapped at her for being slow, the first time Narcissa went to her for help with her lessons after Andromeda ran away.

The neglected tea tray levitating besides Andromeda bumped softly into her shoulder as if drifted astray.

"Um, tea?" Andromeda snapped back into action, gesturing to the sofa.

"Please" Narcissa smiled as she sat down, relieved to move on from the topic of that fateful night five months ago.

Over two decades had passed since Andromeda last shared a pot of tea with her sisters, and yet she still remembered exactly how Narcissa liked it. Mildly-brewed, two sugars. The youngest Black sister had had the sweetest tooth of the three. The younger witch watched as her elder sister poured the tea into the china cups, dutifully taking the chipped one for herself.

The last time the two had shared tea, the family crest had been stamped at the bottom of each bone china cup, the ginger newts had tasted wrong, and the tea and scarcely had time to cool before Andromeda had stormed angrily from the room with tears in her eyes, away from their eldest sister's relentless teasing about the confiscated letter she had received from "that mudblood boy" that morning. Narcissa had been secretly relieved to abandon the tea. Bella always brewed it too strong.

Narcissa watched her sister's movements as she stirred a single sugar into her cup, adding just enough milk to turn the liquid tan, yet small enough that she could barely taste it. She worked by hand where she could have simply waved her wand. Narcissa supposed it helped to relieve the nerves. Her own hands fidgeted discreetly in her lap. The loose threat at her cuff unravelled a little further.

"It can't have been easy for you" Andromeda said softly as she passed Narcissa her tea. "Going against our sister"

It seemed that May night was not quite done with their conversation just yet.

"It was a difficult time" Narcissa said quietly, wishing she could somehow turn the conversation in the direction of the mercifully warm autumn weather they'd had recently. "Difficult choices"

Andromeda smiled knowingly in silent agreement as she stirred her tea.

Narcissa gripped the handle of her cup tight around her fingers. She forced herself to look up at her sister.

"I won't claim innocence. I won't say I was cowed by her, or Lucius, or anyone. I played my part in everything that happened. I am sorry for it, but I can't deny that I did it"

To Narcissa's surprise, Andromeda met her words with none of the accusing anger she had expected. That she deserved. Instead she found a tiny twinkle of... pride? in her sister's gaze.

"I'm glad to hear it" said Andromeda, taking a sip from her cup. "Admitting your sins is the first step towards redemption"

A memory suddenly flickered before Narcissa's eyes, clear as day.

At seven years old, Narcissa stood in her father's study alongside her eldest sister. Eleven years old, on the cusp of beginning her schooling, Bellatrix stood tall and defiant, a tower of strength beside the trembling younger girl, her unruly mass of black curls fighting to free themselves from the schoolgirl plaits they were forcibly contained in.

"You mean to tell me" Cygnus Black's voice was low and calm as he strode out from behind his desk, deceptively lacking in threat, which was what made it so terrifying. "that neither of you can explain to me how this particularly rare, valuable and dangerous bottle of acromantula venom found its way out of the locked cabinet in my private study, and ended up smashed on the floor at the bottom of the staircase?"

Cygnus's demanding gaze fell upon his youngest daughter.

"Narcissa?" he asked expectantly.

Narcissa felt her bottom lip quiver threateningly at her father's stern gaze.

It would be so easy to just collapse into a cascade of confession, to blurt it all out, how Bella had channelled all of her untamed magic into breaking the lock on the cabinet, how she had convinced her sister, who was small enough still to sneak into the kitchens through the loose floorboard via the basement, to aid her in her quest to slip the venom into the soup for the visiting guests that night ("Just a drop, Cissy, it won't kill them, just mess them up a little. It'll be fun"). Maybe if she admitted to their scuffle at the top of the stairs when Bella had tried to snatch the bottle from her, how her hand had slipped and sent the bottle plummeting several floors down the stairs with a painful smash, perhaps if she fell at her father's feet and confessed their crimes, they wouldn't be punished quite so badly.

Narcissa glanced sideways up at her sister. Bella tilted her nose up into the air defiantly. Her beady black eyes shot downwards to her little sister for a moment. A moment long enough to convey a clear message. The message was always clear.

"Don't you dare snitch. Don't be a weakling. If you do, you'll be sorry"

A punishment from father would be quick, but to go against Bella would mean weeks of tormenting from which their shared bedroom permitted very little escape.  
Narcissa shook her head silently, feeling her blonde hair tumbling about her head in it's swept-back style, finished with a velvet bow.

Cygnus's eyes flickered from his youngest daughter to his eldest.

"Bellatrix? Nothing to say?" he enquired calmly.

"Only that I was under the impression that the law required suspects be treated innocent until proven guilty" the eleven year old girl said haughtily, fearlessly looking her father right in the eye, daring him to accuse her of her guilt.

To Narcissa's surprise, and dread, their father chuckled. He eyed Bellatrix with a look that spoke of obvious disapproval, but the undertone of pride could not be ignored.  
"That may be so, in a court of law. This, however, is my house. And in my view, such tactics rarely result in lessons learned"

He reached for his wand.

Narcissa squeezed her eyes shut.

The skin on the back of her legs had stung for days. But Bella had let her sleep in peace.

"I remember reading about the day she escaped from Azkaban" Andromeda's voice brought Narcissa back from the depths of her memories. "The photograph in the paper... she looked so... wild"

'Wild' was the only word to describe post-Azkaban Bellatrix, Narcissa thought.

"She was that" Narcissa agreed.

She took a sip of her tea, felt it's warmth pooling in her stomach, giving her strength.

"Bella was always... strong-willed. Intimidating. You know that as well as I. But the fight for the cause, she took to it so strongly, so to heart. It scared me, even before Azkaban, what she was capable of. And afterwards..."

Narcissa pauses, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. She could see Andromeda's fingers trembling as she clutched her cup for dear life.

"She was not the sister we knew, Andromeda. Bellatrix Lestrange may have died during the Battle of Hogwarts, but our sister Bella died a long time before that. I see that clearly now"

An eerie silence followed, in which neither sister could summon the right words, nor even the strength with which to say them.

In the end they didn't need to. The silence was broken by a muffled whimpering, following by a loud cry from upstairs.

Andromeda hastily put down her cup, tucking a stray lock of chestnut hair behind her ear as show rose from the sofa, smoothing her dress with her shaking hands.

"I'm sorry, he's been sleeping right through the night recently, I should've known it was too good to last. Just give me a minute..."

She hurried from the room. Narcissa could hear a tell-tale muffled sniff from her sister's direction as she went to her grandson.

Alone, Narcissa took a deep, shuddering breath. It felt strange to talk of Bellatrix now. Her sister may be dead, but the lifetime's worth of her powerful influence still hung heavy around her. But this evening, safe in the company of the middle sister, so often overlooked until she committed a crime strong enough to finally be remembered before forcibly forgotten, Narcissa finally began to feel the hint of an idea that perhaps there would be a day when she could be free of it. What a peculiar feeling.

Andromeda returned a few minutes later carrying a bundle consisting of a large knitted blanket with tufts of bright scarlet hair poking out.

"I'm sorry, he just wouldn't settle" Andromeda sighed, and suddenly Narcissa's elder sister was gone, replaced with the worn-out grandmother she had become. She leaned back into the sofa which creaked with age, settling the still whimpering youngster on her lap.

"Not at all" said Narcissa, awkwardly smiling at the baby in her sister's arms, unable to resist staring at the most unusual hair colour.

"Teddy has decided he doesn't quite fancy turquoise anymore" Andromeda smiled fondly at the baby making a grab for the locks of her hair.

"What a lovely name"

"After my husband. His grandfather"

Andromeda's smile faltered for a fleeting moment before she quickly regained her composure, building her walls back up. Narcissa recognised the familiar maternal instinct to uphold the visage of strength and happiness for the sake of the child.

Narcissa felt her stomach twist awkwardly at the thought of the fate of the brother-in-law she never knew. How he had perished at the hands of the regime she had aided. Supported. Contributed to.

She didn't need to turn her head to the sideboard filled with photographs to see the image imprinted in her mind as she stared at the baby in her sister's arms. The photograph of the child with his parents, the family he would never know, the life he would never live.

The tea in her cup had gone lukewarm.

Narcissa placed her cup on the table, swallowing thickly, ready to announce an excuse to leave. She shouldn't be here, It wasn't right. She didn't deserve to be here, in this cottage of broken happiness that she had played her part in creating.

"Would you like to hold him?"

Not for the first time on this most peculiar of evenings, Andromeda's words took her sister by surprise. Once again, she had delivered none of the malice Narcissa had expected. Deserved. Only kindness.

"Yes" Narcissa found herself saying.

Andromeda rose from her seat and crossed to the opposite sofa, sinking down into the sofa beside Narcissa. Carefully she passed the blanket bundle containing the child over into her sister's arms and watched as Narcissa carefully arranged him against her, stiffly, as though afraid he would break.

Teddy instinctively reached up to grab a lock of her hair, a precisely-curled lock of white-blonde hanging from the intricate up-swept do, so unlike his grandmother's soft, grey-flecked tresses tumbling freely about her shoulders. Narcissa felt the slight tug and couldn't help but smile. His little face suddenly seemed to almost light up for a second, and in the blink of an eye, his scarlet hair was replaced with a mop of shockingly-brilliant white, causing him to giggle in delight.

"I see he's found a new muse" his grandmother laughed in amusement.

Narcissa had never felt more conflicted in her life. As a mother, she couldn't help but to be warmed by the presence of this tiny being, his carefree delight in his unique powers enchanting to watch.

And yet, lurking in the background of her mind, always that undertone of guilt. The one she had long-since given up hope of ever going away.

"I'm sorry" Narcissa found herself blurting out as she clutched the child in her arms. She couldn't free her hand fast enough to stop the teardrop sliding down her cheek.

Andromeda gazed sympathetically at her sister, but did not interrupt, nor insist there was no need to continue. She needed to hear what Narcissa had to say as much as her sister needed to say it.

"I'm sorry I never could stand up to her. To them. All of them. If I had... If I'd just... If I could change things-"

"Our sister was a formidable presence" Andromeda added quietly, calmly. "Merlin knows she cowed me enough times when we were children, and I only two years younger, let alone four"

"I should have tried" Narcissa's voice was reduced to a shaky whisper in a vain attempt to shield the full force of her emotion from Teddy, who was now grabbing at the silver serpent clasp of her robes in amusement. "I should have done more"

"It's far too easy, when all is said and done, to say 'what if?'" Andromeda's voice took Narcissa back to the days of big sisterly advice doled out over childhood fall outs and nursery antics. "I've lost count how many nights I've laid awake, wondering 'what if?' over so many things I can barely set them straight in my head. But we can't go backwards, sister. We cannot change what is done. We can only keep going forward. To ensure the mistakes of the past lead to a better world for those that come after us. For Teddy. For Draco"

Narcissa turned to meet her sister's gaze, meeting her soft brown eyes, filled with too much wisdom for a woman so wronged by the crimes of her kin.

Andromeda took her sister's hand, giving it a squeeze, lowering her eyes to stare at their intertwined hands, the calloused, care-worn fingers interlaced with the manicured, bejewelled set.

"I often think about the day I left" the elder sister added quietly, her voice laced with regret. "I never said goodbye. I should have woken you, that night. I should have said something. Instead I just ran, like a thief in the night. I left you there, in that house. With them. With her"

Narcissa squeezed her sister's hand back.

Taking a deep, steady breath, Andromeda raised her eyes to meet Narcissa's once more.

"I'm sorry, sister" she said solemnly. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you from our family"

Narcissa tightened her arm around the baby in her lap, who had by now begun to snooze in her arms.

She glanced once again over to the sideboard filled with photographs, snapshots of the happy life her sister had created.

A life now in tatters.

And yet, embodied in this tiny being leaning against her, a life now begun to rebuild.

As Narcissa raised her sister's hand, still clasped within her own, and brought it to her mouth, planting a soft kiss on top of it, she felt the old wounds within her slowly begin to heal.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save your family from our sister"


End file.
